Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pail for holding milk; specifically, the wooden or tin vessel commonly used in milking.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Both arose from the bench, and Daylight caught up the milk-pail from the nail by the door.

    Chapter XXVII 2010

  • Come, come, my lord, you do less than justice to your gallant kinsman, in wishing him a bride bred up under the milk-pail; for this girl is a peasant wench in all but the accident of birth.

    The Monastery 2008

  • And so much had this wrought on her imagination, that when she approached the cottage where her lover occupied a small apartment, and which had been pointed out to her by a maiden with a milk-pail on her head, she trembled at anticipating the answer she might receive on inquiring for him.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 2007

  • “Are you not afeard, Mrs. Deans,” said the dairy-vestal, addressing Jeanie, who sat, not in the most comfortable state of mind, by the side of Archibald, who himself managed the helm. — “are you not afeard of these wild men with their naked knees, and of this nut-shell of a thing, that seems bobbing up and down like a skimming-dish in a milk-pail?”

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 2007

  • Vile and shameless souls (says Luther) for the sake of gain, like flies to a milk-pail, crowd round the tables of the nobility in expectation of

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • The traveller stopped his weary horse on the eve of entering the city which was the end of his journey, to gaze at the sylph-like form that tripped by him, with her milk-pail poised on her head, bearing herself so erect, and stepping so light and free under her burden, that it seemed rather an ornament than an encumbrance.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 2007

  • I went on till I came to a collection of houses which an old woman, with a cracked voice and a small tin milk-pail, whom I assisted in getting over a stile into the road, told me was called Pen Strit — probably the head of the street.

    Wild Wales : Its People, Language and Scenery 2004

  • LEGLIN-GIRTH, the lowest hoop on a leglin, or milk-pail.

    The Fortunes of Nigel 2004

  • Thicker than flies around the milk-pail, rumours came flitting daily; and even the night — that fair time of thinking — was busy with buzzing multitude.

    Springhaven Richard Doddridge 2004

  • Four bare-legged dairy-maids, with each an empty milk-pail in her hand, ran about with frantic gestures, and uttering loud exclamations of surprise, grief, and resentment.

    Waverley 2004

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